Saturday 15 June 2013

The Weight of Expectations

I'm not usually one for writing about food that isn't Toblerone so a few disclaimers before I start.

1) This piece will not contain any Instagram style pictures of food. That's so fucking obvious.
2) This piece will not contain the hashtag - Foodporn. That's really false advertising.
3) This hasn't been written to tell you to do anything.

That done I'll explain how this merry little escapade started.

One of the best things about my girlfriend, that I can share on here anyhow, is that she loves pro wrestling like I do. That's what bought us together in the first place as it happens. One weekend last year when I was away working for Cage Warriors, she hooked up Netflix through my PS3. Not just any Netflix you understand, the American one.

We spent the next month watching nothing but pro wrestling documentaries, which was pretty amazing truth be told, but longer term the service is something that I've really grown to appreciate. The categories might be niche sometimes but there's so much quality viewing on there that it really does pay for itself.

Anyhow, how does this relate to this story? Quite simply with this.




We watched this documentary a few weeks back and, although it's a bit preachy in places, I was really fascinated by the principle of it.

It's basically about an Australian gentleman called Joe Cross who loses 82lbs in 60 days on a Juice Fast. He drinks nothing but fruit and vegetable juices for 60 days and he meets some people along the way who he encourages to do the same.

Now when I watched this I wasn't overweight. I hadn't been technically over a healthy BMI since about 2001 when I got my first desk job but I was aware that I wasn't eating enough fruit and vegetables. I walk about 4 miles a day, I'm 6 foot 3, have never smoked and haven't drank for about 3 years just for details.

The whole idea of it all interested me so much, especially when he talked about reprogramming your taste buds to like more green foods. Alison was also interested in trying this concept out luckily so we bought a juicer, a load of fruit and veg and embarked on our own 5 day adventure.

As I sit here on Saturday I can honestly say I do feel very different. Rather than rambling on for ages about specifics and anecdotes however, here's what happened in an easily digestible form, if you see what I did there.

Findings

  • I started at 183lbs on Sunday night and when I weighed myself on Friday morning I was 172lbs.
  • I walked 2 miles to work and 2 miles home every night apart from Friday night
  • I drank 2 vegetable juices a day (300ml) (7am and 5pm) and 2 fruit juices a day (300ml) (12pm and 8pm)
  • I drank 4 litres of water a day including a 200ml of warm water to start the day
  • Fruits were Apples, Oranges, Pineapples, Lemons and Bananas
  • Vegetables were Courgettes, Carrots, Spinach, Celery, Beetroot and Mixed Greens.
  • Monday was brutal. I had a searing headache from not drinking tea and was hungry nearly all day
  • Tuesday night I went to bed at 8:30pm and slept for 10.5 hours
  • By Wednesday I was fine. My body was used to it. Not to say I wasn't hungry a bit but it was manageable
  • My sense of taste has definitely changed in the short term. I've clearly become used to the new flavours
  • My skin, hair, eyes and teeth all feel better 
  • Alison's lost 7lbs and is repeating the original 5 day plan for which I'm really proud of her
Any society is only three square meals away from revolution - Leon Trotsky

There's one other thing.
I knew early doors I didn't want to fight when I started training.

It never appealed to me and I was happy with that. It didn't stop me wanting to train though which was good because my love for the sport of mma was enriched by this new practical knowledge. I see so many fighters at different shows now I seldom think about the massive amounts preparation that goes into each fight. I'm not comparing what I did to a weight cut because it wasn't. Primarily because I wasn't getting beaten up savagely twice a day as well as working a day job.

It's not my intention to draw those comparisons, but for the first two days of this process I've never been so consistently hungry in my entire life. I couldn't focus on anything but wanting to eat and found myself tired, lethargic and generally feeling like garbage.

Fighters always get my respect because I realise that they possess something that most don't. It's not only the ability to put yourself in clear and present danger, it's everything that goes along with it. It's the myriad of training requirements, the day to day grind magnified massively, the sacrifices but more than this it's doing this when your body is crying out for sustenance.

Every time a fighter steps on the scales and hits a weight they don't walk around at they got my respect, but now it's way more respect than ever before.
 
If you are interested in anything to do with Juice fasting then go here incidentally but if you're not then don't worry, I'll be talking about Shining Force, Knightmare or some crazy mma adventure again before too long.

Thanks again for taking the time
Ben

Tuesday 4 June 2013

Ninety days around the world

Click this, it'll make sense I promise
When you get off a train that you've been on for a long time, you nearly always take a few quick steps. That's not the tough bit though, not the tough bit at all.

The tough bit is adjusting to the fact that you're no longer traveling at speed. You stumble as your head struggles to fathom why the trees are no longer just a blur of emerald and why there's no constant rush of noise.

A simple realization hit me on Sunday as I sat on the train holding my Megadrive bag filled with clothes, presents and a Toblerone.

This is really happening isn't it.
This is a thing.

A while ago myself and Dave Lethaby interviewed Jeremy Horn, back when we were part of the mma media fraternity, for Yourmma Radio.

It was fascinating to hear about the stories from the NHB days; how he'd turn up with no idea about who he was fighting, and end up winning by sub inevitably.

My favourite part though was when Horn was shortlisted for fighter of the year and he was puzzled by this. By his own admission he was a guy "fighting in tents and hockey arenas in the cornfields", not looking for mass approval or recognition.

His manager asked him how many fights he'd had that year and the total, certainly by today's standards, was incredibly in the region of thirty. His manager then asked how many that he had lost to which Horn simply replied, "None of them."

Sometimes it really does take a reminder from an outside party or a set of specific circumstances to be the catalyst for an unbelievable moment of clarity.

If life was obvious then the shooting star moment would have been as the bus pulled out of the Saitama Super Arena or as the frantic Brazilian crowd at Arena Jaragua exploded but it wasn't.

It was sitting alone on the Sunday train from Manchester Picadilly stopping at Stockport, Stoke-on-Trent, Milton Keynes Central and London Euston as I listened this song.


It hit me all at once. I got chills and all the hairs stood up on my arms and the back of my neck. It wasn't just the song. It was everything. This is everything. It found me.

94 fights in 90 days? 

It doesn't seem real does it.
It was though.
It was more real than a million words on this page could tell you.

I've got a bit of a break for the next few weeks before this all begins again so, until the next time we speak, take care of yourselves and remember to be nice to the ones you love. Simple I know, but too easy to forget sometimes.

Ben